


as love will find its way (i hope we'll be the same)

by sevenplusnine



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: (not much tho), Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) is Whipped, Pining, but one of them loves the other w a burning passion tho, fluff w some angst, mark is so in love, nomin and chensung in the background, some unintended underage drinking, teenage boys just enjoying school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 10:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16093694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenplusnine/pseuds/sevenplusnine
Summary: Mark had spent a summer break away from Donghyuck - who seemingly used to be his best friend, if you ignore the fact that he managed, more like tried to kiss him, that is.When school starts for another year and Mark finds out that his seatmate had to be the one and only Donghyuck, he can’t help but smile and pray for the awkwardness between them to be gone.But nothing seems to be going his way as the first week went by, where Donghyuck never spoke to him or even looked in his direction.Well deserved, he thought to himself.





	as love will find its way (i hope we'll be the same)

Not many dreams of Mark’s had gone this way, where real memories repeated themselves over and over every night he’d try to sleep.

 

He leaned in, inch by inch, getting closer to the boy’s rounded-features as the latter slept, heart beating as fast as ever. Holding his breath, he stared as the moonlight-illuminated skin glowed under his view. The soft touch of the boy’s lips, so fond and delicate, his quiet breathing, everything was so precious to him. More, he wanted to feel him, the shape of his lips pressed on to his even more as he started to move against his plump lips. The boy’s breathing became heavier, but he didn’t notice at first, until -

“Mark?”

 

“ _Holy -_ ”

Mark woke up for the 10th time he had this dream. Sure, remembering the scene was sweet, but not as sweet if he thought about the look of fright and disbelief in Donghyuck’s eyes. He hated his own brain for having to remind him every night that Donghyuck, whom he kissed, was no longer his best friend. Hell, he’d hope that everything would go back to being normal after that night, but it didn’t. Donghyuck no longer stopped by his house in the afternoon, and during family dinners he would choose the seat furthest away from Mark, as if he was some kind of disease carrier. He had no choice but to face reality, that Donghyuck considerably hated him, for 1) kissing him, and 2) breaking their 16-year-long friendship.

Well, it couldn’t be helped that Mark started to grow feelings for the boy he’d known since birth, even though he knew that it was wrong. Every time he’d see Donghyuck, his heart would do little flips and twirls inside his chest, which he didn’t know exactly why back then. It was that one day in class where Mark and Donghyuck were in different classes, and Mark was looking out the window, (not really) listening to the math teacher, when he saw Donghyuck out on the oval. Apparently, Donghyuck had also noticed him up on the third floor of the building (Mark, up to this day still has no idea why), and he waved at him, despite having the sports teacher shout at him to get back into the game.

That moment struck him hard like a lightning bolt.

Even from a far distance, Mark could see the drip of sweat trailing down Donghyuck’s forehead, which he found oddly attractive (well, let’s just put it that way), and the sunlight that surrounded him in a glorious haze enhanced the colour of his honey-like skin, which made Mark feel weird somehow. Donghyuck’s bright smile was as blinding as the sun, and something sank in Mark’s heart. All the things that once seemed normal and ordinary had suddenly been magnified and thrown to him, overwhelming him with the sensuality it brings.

The minute he saw Donghyuck stepping in the classroom, he knew he had fallen terribly, horrendously, and hopelessly in love with his best friend.

“Damn,” Mark whispered under his breath as he flipped over in his bed, planting his face into one of his pillows, “ _why_ , God, _why_ did _I_ have to fall for him?”

Even though Mark said that, he would very much still mind if anyone else was to be attracted to Donghyuck. Back in Grade 8, a girl from Mark’s class had handed a letter to him, which was for Donghyuck, but instead of giving it to him, he waited until the girl left before throwing it down the trash can. Guilty as he was, he could only act extra nice to the girl after doing that, which resulted in Donghyuck getting suspicious. Donghyuck asked Mark if he had anyone he liked, and God, did he want to confess straight away - but he didn’t. He told Donghyuck that it was just too early, and he wasn’t ready for a relationship when all they needed to focus on was studying. Donghyuck hummed in response, and Mark couldn’t decipher his emotions at the time, so he let it go. From then on, Donghyuck never asked Mark about dates or relationships, until that once at a party.

It was another party that Mark’s friend Jeno had hosted, and the whole grade was invited to his house. For some reason, Donghyuck was a bit tipsy (probably due to the spiked punch he’d consume that night), and before Mark was aware, he was hanging on to him like a little brown bear in his mother’s arms. Donghyuck kept on mumbling something which Mark couldn’t quite hear, so he decided to leave the party early and take the drunk little bear home. When Mark had finally settled Donghyuck down in his bed, wearing his usual pajamas that he’d leave at his house, Donghyuck suddenly started speaking, and asked him something out of the blue.

“Mark,” Donghyuck had asked, slurring his words, “what would you think if I liked boys?”

A siren rung inside Mark’s head as he realized what he just said. His eyes shot down to Donghyuck’s face, which his head was resting on his lap, just to see the boy fast asleep and breathing evenly. From that day on, Mark would always think about the meaning of that question whenever he sees Donghyuck with another guy. Being the defensive person he is, he just couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of him at all times. Once he saw a guy cornering Donghyuck in the cafeteria, and he didn’t think twice before pushing the dude away and grabbing Donghyuck’s hand to run away from the situation. Mark knew he was overreacting, but he couldn’t control his instincts (which was, buried deep in his consciousness) to protect Donghyuck at all costs.

Getting out of his bed, Mark groaned as he gathered himself and started to get ready for school. He didn’t want to miss the bus which he would usually take with Donghyuck. Grabbing his backpack, he scuttered downstairs, grabbed the toast his mom prepared, and headed out the door.

“Thanks, mom!”

Mark could hear his mom shouting something back, but he couldn’t be bothered to take his mind off of the thought that he might be able to see Donghyuck at the bus stop.

Walking down the concrete sidewalk, Mark’s eyes only focused on the ground beneath him, because he was nervous for some god-forsaken reason. Donghyuck, Donghyuck, Donghyuck was all he could think about in his head now.

-

And there was The Donghyuck.

Yes, The Donghyuck™ was standing there, looking glorious as ever under the morning sunlight, hair perfectly brushed and shirt ironed.

Mark thought he was about to die even more inside, just like that day when he realized he was in love with his best friend. When he saw Donghyuck turning to look at him, he let out a breath which he didn’t even know he was holding this whole time. Mark opened his mouth in an attempt to say something to the latter, but before he could make a sound, Donghyuck turned his head back to its original position. It was as if Donghyuck didn’t know who he was, and he was just another random stranger that he just saw at the bus stop.

What could he have expected? Donghyuck smiling at him and talking like usual? No, Mark knew this was bound to happen, so he (unwillingly) accepted the truth and kept silent. Even though his heart hurt like hell, he still stood next to Donghyuck, not far but not close either from him. Mark could feel that Donghyuck wasn’t in the greatest mood, so he had to be extra careful to not offend him even more than he has already.

Soon, the bus arrived and Donghyuck went on it, followed by Mark behind him. Some familiar faces said hi to the two of them, and they both replied like they usually would. The bus was quite full and so there were only two seats that were vacant - which happened to be right next to each other. (what a coincidence, Mark thought.)

Hopefully sitting next to him isn’t considered a crime…

Donghyuck saw the seats and sat down first since he was in front. Mark, after careful thinking, hesitantly sat down next to him. He could feel Donghyuck moving in his seat for a bit before settling down, which made him stiffen up. Yes, he was nervous about Donghyuck’s feelings and didn’t want to offend him any further (hopefully he wasn’t going to anyways).

Mark knew the lack of sleep would definitely catch up to him during the day, sooner or later.

He did not expect it to hit during this time, specifically right this moment, when he was sitting next to Donghyuck with a lot of tension in between them.

The next thing Mark knew, he woke up on Donghyuck’s shoulders. When he initially realised he was indeed resting his head on Donghyuck’s shoulders, he panicked inside for a while before considering about what he should do next. What am I supposed to do now, pretend to still be asleep or get up like nothing happened? Mark felt so weird, being put in such an awkward situation with his ex-best friend, and not knowing what to do. He eventually decided to take it upon him to close his eyes again and pretend to be asleep. At least he didn’t push me away, Mark thought, This would probably be the only time I get to be this close to him from now on… And just like that, he fell asleep once again. By the time he woke up, the bus had arrived at school and was just pulling into the front gates. Mark didn’t hesitate this time, he straightened up like nothing had happened and pretended to look around him.

Donghyuck didn’t seem bothered at all, other than him rolling his shoulders, which indicated that he was sore from Mark’s weight being put on him for the whole bus ride. Mark noticed and couldn’t help but feel guilty for causing that, so he looked at Donghyuck with an apologetic smile on his face, which Donghyuck returned with a stare.

The two got off the bus without saying a word to each other, which was a total miracle if they were still on good terms. On the way to their classroom, they met a few of their mutual friends - who were totally clueless about the incident between them - and walked together to the top floor of the building. Jaemin and Jeno were going on about their trip to Greece during the holidays, which Mark replied with an unenthusiastic “wow, that sounds fun.”, and Donghyuck just straight up ignoring the two. It was only when Jaemin asked Mark what he’d do during the holidays, that Donghyuck started to listen to their conversation.

“So what did you do this whole time, Mark? Haven’t heard anything from you two,”

Mark thought for a while before replying (half-naturally), as he couldn’t tell his friends that “I was crying over my ex-best friend who now has become my love interest, so we haven’t even talked at all”.

“Not much, just hanging around the park and stuff.”

“My god Mark, what could we expect from you? Didn’t you hang out with Donghyuck or anything?”

And yes, that was the one (1) question Mark wanted to avoid, but now with the three pairs of eyes on him, obviously he couldn’t dodge it now. He gulped and looked at Donghyuck, who had a smirk on his face (for some reason).

“Uh, not really, he was busy having lessons and he couldn’t come out, so we didn’t quite get to see each other during the holidays.”

Mark looked at Donghyuck, and he seemingly had a “wow that was smooth” look, eyebrows lifted in surprise at how Mark just pushed the question towards him. Now Jaemin and Jeno’s eyes were on him, so Donghyuck had to give them an answer.

“Yea, wait where are your lockers? We need to get to class before the bell goes,”

Donghyuck walked quickly in front of the group, which diverted their attention to finding their lockers. Mark smiled at Jaemin and Jeno who followed Donghyuck, and thought to himself,

How worse can this day get?


End file.
